


handle with care

by jessus



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Nagisa is a Little Shit, as per usual, rei is a freshman working at an on-campus library, rin is a the sophomore/swimming douchebag who wants to bang him or punch him or something
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2013-12-08
Packaged: 2018-01-03 00:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1063670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessus/pseuds/jessus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reality, though — reality could be appealing. Reality could be a scalding-hot librarian wearing glasses and a scowl as he finishes helping the person in front of Rin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. checking out

**Author's Note:**

> hihihi. i know i'm supposed to be writing a hawaii five-0 au, AND I AM, slowly but surely, but librarian!rei and weirdly-into-the-librarian!rin kept wanting to be assholes together, and i couldn't resist. but i also haven't had a lot of time to write lately, so i thought i'd try my hand at a chapter-fic? maybe see if it would motivate me to make the time. time i don't have. probably not the most intelligent decision on my part, but here we are anyway! this fic likely won't be TOO long, and is only being written in chapters because rinrei as a ship deserves a ton of love and i wanted to get some more fic out there asap. comments and kudos are appreciated, as always, and if you catch any glaring (or subtle) mistakes please let me know! i don't feel the need to apologize for what will likely be some terrible librarian/swimmer puns as chapter titles, so i won't. xox jessus

There are certain common fantasies of the male population that have always baffled Rin — the “schoolgirl” fantasy, for one, is creepy for a lot of reasons, and always made him feel more protective than anything else, having a younger sister who is, in fact, a school girl. He can see some merit in the cop fantasy, mostly because he’s always been sort of into handcuffs and the like, but he thinks it’d be awkward trying to act it out in bed regardless. It’s the same with maid fantasies, weird plumber fantasies, pretty much  _anything_ that would involve pretending.

Rin isn’t a decent enough actor that he can pull that sort of thing off. He’d tried once, during freshman year, with a junior who had wanted him to play the embarrassed bachelor party-goer to his stripper, and he hadn’t  _hated_  it, but it had been more uncomfortable than anything. He hadn’t had to fake the embarrassed part, not really, and having phrases he was used to hearing in stupid porn dialogue whispered into his ear had been mortifying enough that he’d only been half-focused on the mostly naked guy grinding down on his lap.

In retrospect, he wonders whether maybe it was the fakeness of it that had made him feel odd. If other people enjoyed that sort of thing, more power to them, but trying to be something he wasn’t didn’t turn him on, didn’t spice things up in an enjoyable way for him. So, yes, maybe the thought of being arrested by an actual hot cop and breaking a few rules with him (or her) was sort of appealing, but faking it? Not so much.

Reality, though — reality could be appealing.

Reality could be a scalding-hot librarian wearing glasses and a scowl as he finishes helping the person in front of Rin.

_A real-life sexy librarian_ , Rin thinks, utterly flabberghasted, and his brain shorts out just long enough for said sexy librarian to call out irritably, like maybe he’s said it more than once already, “ _Next_.”

Rin fumbles with the four books he’s carrying in his haste to approach the counter, watches in horror as the one on top slides to the ground, winces as he’s forced to pick it up and then winces again as he shuffles forward and makes eye contact with the severely unimpressed, sexy,  _sexy_  librarian.

He dumps his books unceremoniously onto the counter, just glad to have made it there in one piece, and isn’t sure if he should run away or glare back when Sexy Librarian gives him a look that could kill a lesser man. He goes with glaring, in the end, because Rin always goes with glaring. Even with stupidly attractive on-campus librarians.

"Are you working toward a degree in swimming?" Sexy Librarian asks with his nose in the air as he accepts Rin’s school card and scans it.

He is no doubt referencing the four books Rin is checking out today (“The Swimming Drill Book,” “Fitness Swimming,” “The History of Swimming,” and “Butterfly: Butterfly Techniques Made Easy”), but his tone and the look on his face have Rin’s hackles rising even further.

"No, I’m on the swim team," he grits out, very carefully not adding "you sexy four-eyed shithead" to the end of his explanation. "Are you working toward a degree in… fuckin’ libraries, or something?"

The look on Sexy Librarian’s face barely changes as he stares, and Rin feels about three inches tall. But he’s a very  _angry_ three inches tall. The kind of three inches tall that could make someone cry in a fit of violent rage, to be sure.

"That would be a degree in library science," says Sexy Librarian, shoving his glasses up the bridge of his nose just before speed-scanning the rest of Rin’s books. "Which, no, I am not looking to obtain. I  _am_  currently one semester into receiving a degree in mathematical science.”

Rin is reluctantly impressed. That’s not an easy degree, and here he is, working on top of it only half a year in, taking precious time out of his day to be a dick to unsuspecting book-lovers.

"Sounds really interesting," he says as sarcastically as he can, because no amount of sexy makes this guy’s pretentious attitude okay. It’s just — there’s a lot of sexy. A  _lot_. Even the little line that forms between his eyebrows as he frowns at Rin’s sneer is sort of attractive on him. It’s infuriating, is what it is.

"Look, can we hurry this up?" Rin asks after a brief moment of silence in which Sexy Librarian frowns and Rin glares. "I’ve got places to be that don’t include some random librarian taking his sweet-ass time just so he’ll have more opportunities to look down on me."

_That_  knocks the frown right off of Sexy Librarian’s face. It morphs into a look of surprise, his eyes widening behind the red frames Rin is  _totally_  not developing a thing for.

"It wasn’t my intent to—" he protests, but Rin interrupts, in a bad enough mood now not to be willing to hear him out.

"Whatever," he says, shrugging. "Just give me my books and I’ll go."

Sexy Librarian pauses for a few long seconds before nodding reluctantly and pushing the small pile toward him, his school card on top. He opens his mouth, and Rin waits impatiently for what he hopes is an apology, watching as it closes and then opens again a millisecond later.

"Please remember that these aren’t actually your books, and handle them with care," he says finally, pink-cheeked and overly formal.

Rin groans out loud, drawing the attention of many a library-goer, and storms away with his books tucked securely under his arm.

—

In a cruel twist of fate, Rin can’t stop thinking about him. He manages to push the librarian’s irritability out of his head very briefly,  as well as the shock on his face after Rin’s accusation, but only for as long as he’s doing drills at the pool.

Maybe sexy librarians are better off in people’s fantasies, he thinks sourly. And then, rinsing off in somewhat private shower stall, he resolutely refuses to jerk off to thoughts of fucking Sexy Librarian up against a wall. He’d been  _rude_ , for no reason other than that maybe Rin had dropped one of his precious books and taken more than half a second to respond to him at first. It shouldn’t be a turn-on. It  _isn’t_  a turn-on, really, but it’s apparently not enough of a turn-off that Rin can forget about the rest of the stupidly attractive package, either.

He’s mildly aroused and annoyed on and off for the rest of the day — one minute he’ll be staring at his pile of homework in dread and the next he’s scowling and resting a mostly-innocent hand on his clothed crotch (it’s more  _comfortable_  that way) and ignoring said homework in favor of imagining how Sexy Libarian might look on his back, or on his hands and knees, or bent over the very counter that had separated them today. Maybe bending Rin over the counter, he's not that picky.

He doesn’t jerk off. That would make the thoughts real, turn them into something he’d have to feel weird about. He doesn’t have to feel weird about them as long as he’s not actually getting off to them, he tells himself. He feels weird anyway.

He’s still feeling weird when two of the younger members of his team burst through the door to his room. He removes his hand from its comfortable resting place on his dick, watching in what seems to be slow-motion as Nagisa, world’s most overenthusiastic greeter, launches himself at him with a war cry.

Predictably, the landing does not go as Nagisa had probably hoped, mostly because the landing involves Rin’s lap and Nagisa’s lower back pressed against his half-hard dick.

There’s a long stretch of silence during which Nagisa sits up halfway, still in Rin’s lap, looks down, looks over at Nitori, looks at Rin’s bulge  _again_ , and finally, slowly, makes eye contact with Rin.

Or he tries, anyway. Rin refuses to give him the satisfaction. He knows how mortified he probably looks right now, despite the fact that it’s  _totally fair_  for him to be sitting here fully clothed in his own fucking dorm room with a not-quite-erection.

His face is burning as he grits out, voice low and dangerous, “Get the fuck off of me.”

When Nagisa slides off of his lap and his bed only to waggle his eyebrows obnoxiously and say, “Were we  _interrupting_  something?” he ups the ante, turns up the volume so suddenly that his voice cracks when he yells.

"Get the fuck out of my room!"

Nitori at least has the decency to look as embarrassed as Rin feels, even if he no longer looks quite as terrified by Rin’s outburst as he would have just a few weeks ago. Until Rin yanks off one of his running shoes and throws it at Nagisa’s head, anyway.

Nagisa, the little shit, just cackles madly as he dodges it and fucking skips out of the room like he thinks this is a joke, grabbing Nitori by the arm to drag him along.

When they’re gone, Rin takes a deep breath. He’d shelled out the extra money to have a single dorm, this kind of shit shouldn’t happen to him. Whatever arousal he might have been feeling is gone as he slumps back onto his bed, weak with the trauma of the past 45 seconds of his life.

He finds himself contemplating going to give Sexy Librarian a piece of his mind, explaining to him how he’s  _ruined_  Rin’s entire day and possibly his life by being infuriating and hot all at once. It’s another fantasy that won’t happen, though he’s seeing the merit in those at the moment.

Strangling Nagisa is also a good fantasy.

It’s probably karma when Nagisa pokes his head back into Rin’s room a second later and says, “If you want to talk about it, Rin, you know I’m here for—”

Rin’s other shoe goes flying. He shoves a pillow over his head to block out the sounds of Nagisa’s laughter echoing down the hallway.


	2. warming up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I think you broke him, Rei," Nagisa whispers in horror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiiiiiii everyone! so, here's chapter two. sorry it's taken so long. as i've said, i have very little free time right now, but i'm doing my best! this is a silly chapter for a silly fic. i have some trouble taking these two seriously. i mean, as an otp, i am very serious about them emotionally, but as individual humans they are both very, very hard for me to take seriously in writing. someday i'll write an angsty fic about them, maybe. it'll be so serious it'll knock your fluffy socks off. this fic is not that fic, and this chapter is definitely not that chapter.
> 
> chapter warnings in the end notes.

\--

It doesn't take long for Nagisa to catch on to the fact that Rin has developed an issue with the library.

Not becauseNagisahas any sort of real skill at detective work, though he fancies himself an investigator whenever he thinks anyone is hiding something. Nosy? Yes. Brilliant atfact-finding anddeduction? Not so much.

But it's a week and a half after the embarrassing encounter in his dorm room with Nagisa and Ai, and it hardly takes a detective to notice the wayRinstiffens up when Makoto asks him to look for a book he's beenhoping to read wheneverhenext visits the library,blurtingout a refusal. _Stupid_ , he thinks, _stupid and obvious_.

Makoto's wide eyes and the annoyed twitch inHaru'sexpressiontell him that in addition to being stupid and obvious, he'salso beensort ofrude, so he mutters an apology as he glances away.Nagisalooks a little _too_ curious for comfort, but Makoto's surprise softens into a smile easily.

"It's alright. I'll get it the next time--"

"I'll get it for you!"Nagisainterrupts, snapping his fingers.Rinjerks his head back to stare at him, eyes narrowing.Nagisagrins, mischievous and bright and _nosy_. "Right now!"

Just like that, he takes off running. Rin's stuck in place for too long, too shocked to react immediately even though he really shouldn't be considering who he's dealing with.

"I... I didn't even tell him the name of the book," Makoto says weakly, bewildered.

"We'll go look for it later," Rin hears Haru say, and then his feet start moving, _finally_ , as he jets after Nagisa.

Nagisa, whose short legs should not be able to carry him as fast as they are. He's got more energy than anyone Rin's ever seen, but on his feet he burns through it quickly, and the library is on the other side of campus.

Still,Rin'sendurance can only make up for a few of the many seconds he stood staring afterNagisa, and he only catches up just outside of the library. He tacklesNagisato the grass, careful not todo itwith _too_ much forceeven if he probably deserves it. He's gratified to seeNagisais breathing a lot harder than he is, elatedto hear theshriekNagisalets out as he goes down.

"You asshole," he grunts asNagisasplutters through a mouthful ofgrass. Hesitsup on the backofNagisa'sthighs so he can't get up to continue running,and isjustraising a hand to giveNagisathenoogieof a lifetime when a backpack that feels like it's filled with a few bricks slams into his cheek, sending him tumbling forcefullyoff of his perchwith an even more pitiful noise than the oneNagisamadeseconds before.

_Fuck_ , he thinks as he blinks up at a wavering bluesky, the entire right side of his face feeling like it'salready turning intoone hugebruise. _Death by backpack. I knew the_ _education system would somehow be what did me in._

He's pretty sure he bit his tongue or split his cheek on his teeth or _something_ , because he can taste blood and his ears are ringing a little when he hears, "Nagisa! Are you alright?!"

The voice is familiar, and Rin is just able to raise his head enough to see the cause of all of this, Sexy Librarian himself, kneeling down to make sure Nagisa's okay.

Rinkicks weakly towards him in righteous anger, connecting with nothing.Hetries to curse but all that comes out is a feeble groan, and thenNagisais materializing in front of him, _way_ too close.  


"Outta my face," he mutters.Nagisamoves a few inches away obligingly, probably only listening becauseRinis currently too out of it to make him. It takes a few seconds for everything to come back into focus, and now thatNagisa'snot directly in front of him he can see the librarian standing stiffly a few feet back, the blue-haired bringer of pain and destruction and horrifying embarrassment.

_Mostly pain_ , Rin thinks, dazedly bringing up a hand to poke at his aching face, which no longer really feels like his face. He winces, hissing as soon as his fingers touch it, then does it again curiously.

"That really hurts," he says after a few more pokes. And it _does_ _._ Rin, beneath the shimmering confusion that is currently dampening his anger, is reluctantly impressed by Sexy Librarian's strength.

"I think you broke him, Rei," Nagisa whispers in horror.

_Who the hell is_ _Rei_ _?_   Rin thinks.

"Sexy Librarian?" he asks out loud. Sexy Librarian must beRei. There's a small crowd of people gathered around them, some with worried looks on their faces and others with their phones out. _Bastards_. But the sexy librarian is the only one who could have broken Rin, so he must be the personNagisa'saddressing.

"Sexy?" repeats Sexy Librarian -- _Rei_ , his voice going all squeaky in a wayRinhopes he finds embarrassing. "I--he's not _broken_ ,Nagisa, he's just--You two are _friends_? "

" _You_ twoare friends?"Rinreturns, eyes narrowed.  


Nagisa ignores him -- which is incredibly rude and irresponsible, considering the amount of pain he's currently still feeling \-- and turns to look Rei up and down, then shrugs.

 "Sexy," he says thoughtfully.

It's not until this moment thatRinrealizes he just referred to Sexy Librarian, _out loud_ , as "Sexy Librarian." Hesits up and the world wobbles a little, but hefeelsmore like himself once he's not laying down. Like a horrified, pathetic creep who just got smacked in the face with a backpack and told his nosiest friend and the most violent librarian in history that he thinks said librarian is hot.

BothNagisaandReiare there helping himin less than a second,Rei'shand closing around his as he pulls him up andNagisasliding under his arm to help himstand. Which he doesn't _need_ , thanks.He can totally stand on his own, he just doesn't feel like ityet. 

"That sexy thing--" he starts, and Rei's face goes as red as Rin's must be. Rin, at least, has the advantage of an already-red face from being  _brutally attacked_. He stops talking, not sure where he was going with it. A lie? A joke? Both excuses would likely be taken the wrong way, and he doesn't really want a matching bruise for the other side of his face.

"Don't worry about it,"Reitells him after clearing his throat. His hand is still graspingRin's, andNagisais worryingly silent. "You're clearly not in your right mind at the moment."

_You're hot even when you haven't just tried to knock my brain out of my head_ , Rin thinks, and miraculously manages to not say it out loud.

"Yeah, well, whosefault is that?" he grumbles instead, squeezingRei'shand hard enough to hurt,and then jerkingback at the realization that they'restill touching at _all_.

"He thought you were trying to hurt me!" Nagisa pipes up finally, and then he gives Rin a hard, carefully placed pat on the back and sidesteps out from under his arm so that Rin goes tilting face-first into Rei's shoulder.

"I'm gonna kill you," he mumbles into Rei's shirt. He has to grab Rei's biceps to right himself, and he's torn between jerking back violently again and feeling them up, because this may be his only opportunity. They're pretty nice, not too big but definitely harder than he was expecting. Not that he was expecting any of this. He'd been perfectly content to avoid the library for the rest of his life, never having to see this guy again.

When he stops grabbing atRei'sarms, he looks up to see that if anything, the blush onRei'sface has gotten worse. He pushes his glasses up slowly.Trying to hide it,Rinthinks. Heclearly hadn't been as subtle with the groping as he would have liked, but he thinksReiprobably smacked all of the subtlety out of him for a moment there.

"Don't killRei,"Nagisatells him in an offhand voice that says he's not worried at all thatRinactually might. He clearly understands the situation nowdespite all ofRin'sefforts to keep him from finding out, the pathetic hate-crushRinhas even ifNagisadoesn't quite know about the "hate" part.

Rin turns -- a little too quickly, still reeling from the blow to the head -- to face him, and snarls. "I meant _you_ , you prying little--"

It's Rei, yet again, that stops him, only this time it's a little gentler than a backpack to the face. Rin feels it all the same, Rei's hand resting light as a feather on his forearm enough to give him goosebumps.

He cuts himself off, takes a deep breath. Everyone who knows him knows he'd never actually hurt one of his friends -- not on purpose,  anyway -- exceptReidoesn't know him, and clearly doesn't think too much of him based on the two encounters they've had now.

ButRinthinks maybe _he_ misjudged him the first time they met, not having given him a chance to explain his rudeness, afterReisays, "I'm sorry. I didn't read the situation correctly, and acted without thinking. I--I can take you to the medical center, if you'd like."

Of course. Of course he can be nice and courteous, too. Of course he jumps in to protect his friends without thought. Of course the snooty librarian that has made every attempt at fueling his night-time fantasies for a week and a half isn'talways so snooty.BecauseRinwasn't already fucked _enough_ when he strongly disliked the guy and still somehow wanted to jerk off to thoughts of him.

He's opening his mouth to protest that he doesn't need medical attention when Nagisa butts in, saying, "I think that's a great idea! I've got a class to get to, so I can't come along, but--"  


"I'm _fine_ , and youdon't have classfor the rest of the day,"Rinsays through gritted teeth. He knows whatNagisa'strying to do, and he really, _really_ doesn't appreciate being forced into further human interaction with someone he's sort of got a thing for.Rindoesn't do well with anything that isn'ton his own terms, and he knows it.

Rei is looking between them, brow furrowed like he's confused or suspicious, and Nagisa says sweetly, "You go to the medical center or I'll have to let Makoto know that you have a concussion."

"That's... that's fucking _dirty_ ,"Rinprotests, but it's all it takes forNagisato seal the deal. There's no wayRinis going to put Makoto through any unnecessary worrying if he doesn't have to, and he's not particularly fond of the idea of putting himself through unnecessary motheringeither. He probably doesn't even  _have_ a concussion.

Nagisa just shrugs and grins at both of them. "So, class!" he says, then waves and runs off to a class that very much isn't happening.

Rin watches him go and heaves a long-suffering sigh.

"To the medical center, then?"Reiasks after a moment of silence.

"Guess so,"Rinsays, and starts off in that direction. He jumps about a mile whenReitries to move in to help him walk, and barks, " _No_." 

He feels a little bad whenReigives him aninjured look as he draws back, but there's no wayRincan handle having him plastered to his side for the entirety of the three minute walk. Three minutes of touchingReiwould make things uncomfortable as hell, he's sure. 

Still, he lowers his voice a little when he amends, "I can walk by myself."

WhenReistill seemstaken aback, he forces himself to mutter a thank-you. 

The tentative smile Rei sends his way makes Rin's stomach flip over. He shoves whatever he's feeling down, then rolls his eyes and sets off, trusting that Rei will follow him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for mild-ish violence due to a misunderstanding.
> 
> i hope you all enjoyed the update! comments/kudos are appreciated, and as always, you can feel free to contact me on tumblr at kirschneins.tumblr.com. see you next time~


End file.
